Tuscany, a journey in the Renaissance

Tuscany (3.500.000 inhabitants) is perhaps the most flourishing region in Italy in terms of art. The territory consists of hills (Chianti), mountains (Apuane Alps, Monte Amiata) and plains (Versilia).The archipelago of Tyrrhenian islands like Elba, Giglio and Capraia are also part of the region. And so is the Maremma, savage land of rocky cliffs, clear waters, wild foals and tales of brigands.

Tuscan is basically the same as Italian (Dante, writer, ‘Il Bel Paese là dove il sì suona’, the cradle of the so-called ‘bello stile’), a spoken language that can be elegant an graceful (Siena and Firenze) or sharp and coarse (Livorno), yet always open, rich in plain phonemics and vivid images. Manzoni (author of The Betrothed) is famous for stating that he decided to cleanse his novel from impurities and dialects by rinsing it in the waters of River Arno (“sciacquò i panni in Arno.”).

The Etruscans (VIII century BC) has established a broadminded and cultivated society where women had the same civil and judicial rights as men. Etruria, Tuscia, Tuscania, and finally Tuscany. During the Renaissance the Tuscans did their best (and worst, as they proved contentious).

They were also parochial people, fragmented like it is in another 1000 small belligerent republics and mutually hostile. In the 1300 and 1400, thanks to the power of the Medici family and the splendours of the Renaissance,Florence (from Florentia, which means flourishing) and Tuscany in general gave birth to an elegant and refined society, rich in art, literature and patronage. Of course there were plots (Guelfi and Ghibellini), conspiracies (the Pazzi) and stakes (Savonarola), but that is because it was still the land of the Florentine Secretary, Nicolò Machiavelli. Yet those were the illuminated and creative years when Tuscany gave art and western culture a major contribution. Dante, Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli and Brunelleschi….

And Florence was the centre of this great revival of humanism. We mustn’t forget Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, and smaller towns like Cortona, Fiesole or SanGimignano – with its one hundred towers -, all true gems of architecture. The lords of these cities always felt their tower had to be slightly taller than that of their rivals – just like in New York.